I am fully convinced that was a first in the history of that gag.

...how do I pagetop?

edited 25th Nov '12 4:14:07 PM by Lopiny

@Syd - You reminded me how I enjoyed seeing Fluttershy getting curbstomped by Rainbow Dash.

Then Spike runs after the scent, Cartoon Physics be damned.

People don't seem to understand forgiveness.

It's not "well, you have an excuse for what you did, so it's not really wrong after all", it's "what you did was wrong, but I'm willing to look past that, so just don't do it again, okay?"

The Mando Pony / /mlp/ feud seems to have gone better than expected. After a short lid flipping, Mando calmed down and apologized for being overly emotional while thanking everyone for their support, while many from /mlp/ came to apologize for the behavior displayed by their peers. At least, that's what I saw on the comments to his latest video, which I have followed for a while now.

Don't you just love when things actually go well?

edited 25th Nov '12 4:31:59 PM by Lopiny

What are you referring to? The episode?

edited 25th Nov '12 4:30:12 PM by Mio

Yes.

People going on again about "justifying what Babs did".

Babs wasn't justified, and that is the frakking point!

I bet no one noticed this

By that standard, Twist and Snails should be shipped too.

They are. It's surprisingly adorable.

@ Lopiny: I noticed. Too bad Fluttershy didn't call him "Harry" in TMPP. That would have been great, and would have brought the joke full-circle.

@Kyler: Yeah, I've seen plenty of that. From what I've gotten some people thought she should have been more hesitant and should have reached the conclusion on her own. Others think her apology wasn't sincere enough. Still others think she needed to be punished, or that the CMC should have gone through with the prank anyway because that is the way you deal with a bully.

Trust me I've been back forth with people most of the afternoon.

Eh. My problem with it is just that from a writing perspective the moral and resolution hinge on how Babs's bullying was unusual for her. It makes for a good moral about how asshole breeds asshole among "normal" people, but shies away from how to deal with Asshole Zero. It irritates me more than it would on its own, because it's already a thing for cartoons to barely (if at all) acknowledge that sometimes bullies don't have that kind of sympathetic bent and really are just dicks because they think it's funny.

Like, yeah, reach out to people as a first resort, and be ready for people to be complex human beings with flaws and insecurities — but you need to be mentally prepared for some people to just be slime.

edited 25th Nov '12 5:02:11 PM by Pykrete

Given that Asshole Zero is Diamond Tiara in this case, the episode seemed to be pretty clear on what to do, namely tell other people about it and stand up to them without stooping to their level.

Except what happened to DT & SS was almost exactly the same kind of thug intimidation Babs was pulling on the CMC. It just felt better because we like the target more.

Possibly.

Saggy eyes.

Well, telling their parents that they're bullies is the important part. Backing them into a mudhole was a bit intimidationesque, though.

@Pyrkete: We kind of already had that way back in season one with Griffon the Brush Off. It was even written by the same writer.

edited 25th Nov '12 5:04:36 PM by Mio

@Pykrete: It might just be me, but that sounds less like a problem with the actual episode's writing and more "I'd rather have had them do this lesson than the one they actually did". No, they didn't address how to deal with "Asshole Zero", but that wasn't really the point of the episode.

@Pykrete That doesn't change the fact that the show did acknowledge that some bullies are just like that. And what Babs did to the CMC was actual physical harassment and theft, not thug intimidation. They weren't so much afraid of her as they were of being snitches.

It did, though. The correct approach to Diamond Tiara and the correct approach to Babs was one in the same.

edited 25th Nov '12 5:12:21 PM by PerpetualLurker

Hey I'm back.

I bet we'll be debating Bad Apple for years to come...because the show will run for years...right Hasbro?

Well, they did, but it was extremely brief and kind of an afterthought. I seriously doubt that it's going to end DT and SS's bullying. I got the idea they just put it in so DATASS wouldn't get off scot-free. It was a temporary solution at best.

edited 25th Nov '12 5:15:47 PM by JapaneseTeeth

@Applelight: Seems that way.

Four episodes in and it seems we already have something to eclipse MMDW in terms of pure controversy, which should have been expected considering the subject matter.

Well, one could say that the only reason Babs exist is so they could have a really cruel bully and maintain the status quo at the same time. Unfortunate, but ultimately expected.

edited 25th Nov '12 5:18:08 PM by Mio

I know. Like I said, it bugs me more than it otherwise would because cartoons on the whole like to dance around that issue. I mean, "bully is really an insecure victim and just needs some hugs" is pretty stock, but few of them have the stones to admit kids being jerks for shits and giggles is even a thing (and FIM is already the exception to the rule that way). Which is weird, because the same cartoons typically have no such compunctions about older characters doing so.

Also, I'm not sure whether to laugh or o_0 about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon being referred to as DATASS.

edited 25th Nov '12 5:19:55 PM by Pykrete

@JT And their bullying thus far as been so soft that they don't warrant much more than that. They're just a nuisance to the CMC, especially compared to what Babs did.

edited 25th Nov '12 5:17:47 PM by PerpetualLurker